My Dad, Mam, Uncle and Aunty were all into bikes, so I was immersed in the culture from a young age. My dad used to be a bike mechanic in North Strand and Santry in his younger days. He really taught me everything I know about riding and fixing bikes. My Dad taking me out around the block on a CB400 when I was 5 was what really got me hooked, no bike could pass me without me craning my neck to watch it go past and growing up in Dublin I was surrounded. Myself and my Dad scoured the country looking for my first bike when I was 15, he drove me everywhere to find it and we eventually settled on an RSX100 from KC Motorcycles in Tullamore, he taught me to ride on that bike and truth be told, I crashed it within about an hour of getting it home. It didn’t faze me though and from that point on if I wasn’t out on the bike, I was in the garage working on it, doing needless stuff just to be working on a bike.

My little brother ended up dry seizing the RSX when I had the carb off it replacing the jets and as I’d already had it re-bored that was the end of my first bike. I then bought a brand new GN125 and rode it everywhere, that bike brought me to work every day hail, rain or snow and to countless rallies, it even won me “longest distance, smallest bike” at one rally and earned me an entry in the Bikers Bible – a dream for a young aspiring biker. I was off the bikes for most of my twenties or should I say, I didn’t own one for most of my twenties – I was still riding friends and families bikes every chance I got. I got back into them in a big way a few years ago (it’s in the blood) with the purchase of a VN750, straight pipes, apes and custom paint – I was in love.

I’m on a VT1100C Shadow now and have plans to hang onto it for a few years and customize it a bit. When I lost my dad I was a bit lost myself, I found the shed through a friend and started going out to the guys fairly regularly, they ended up asking me on a run and then to join the team and it really helped me come to terms with the loss of my dad. The support and friendship is second to none and I’m truly grateful to all the team members for taking me in and making me a part of that biker family.